Obama for Irish Dinner

WHILE he may not be stopping in Ireland on his current world tour, Senator Barack Obama is apparently attending an Irish event in September.

Organizers say they have a qualified yes to the invitation to the Co-operation Ireland dinner in New York on September 24 which will be attended by among others, Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister and first minister.

The Co-operation Ireland dinner was postponed earlier in the year when McGuinness and then First Minster Ian Paisley were unable to attend. The delay will certainly have been worth the wait, though, if Obama is able to attend the September dinner.

It would be an overdue Irish event for the Democratic candidate. There was considerable disappointment that his campaign decided to skip over Ireland on this visit - a strange decision given the reality of the ethnic vote in America.

Indeed, campaign sources claim that he was in favor of stopping off but was talked out of it by staffers.

While Britain, France and Germany are obviously important countries to visit, there are very few votes to be won among ethnic Americans in those destinations. Ireland, Poland or Italy should surely have been included on the itinerary.

The King of Queens

CONGRESSMAN Joe Crowley held a highly successful fundraiser in Astoria, Queens on Monday night and proved once again what a formidable politician he has become.

Among those paying tribute to Crowley were Congressman Charles Rangel, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in the House, as well as Malcolm Smith, likely to be the next Joe Bruno in Albany if, as expected, Democrats win the State Senate.

Also there was New York City Council President Christine Quinn, who owes her job to the Queens machine that Crowley sits proudly atop of, as well as a host of other job seekers for dozens of legislative offices.

What was extraordinary was the range of communities represented at the fundraiser. Sikh, Bangladeshi, Asian, Italian, Jewish and Irish all reflecting the incredibly eclectic mix that Queens has become.

And Crowley presides over it all. He is the Queens County boss, a job easily as important as his congressional title.

This year he has only a pushover opponent, but Crowley will not take anything for granted. He is a rising star in Democratic congressional circles as well, as the presence of the powerful Rangel bears testimony to.

Puzzling Priorities

AOH National President Jack Meehan seems badly out of step with Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen and the priorities of most activist Irish Americans if the following remarks he made are to be believed.

In the week of the AOH National Convention in New Orleans, Meehan fails to mention immigration reform as even a minor issue for Hibernians to focus on.

That is despite what Cowen stated last week in New York that it had the highest priority of his government.

Meehan, from Massachusetts, faces a challenge to his presidency at the AOH convention, which is hardly surprising given the fact that he fails to recognize an issue that brought hundreds of Hibernians, including Meehan himself, to Washington, D.C. last year as part of the 10,000 or so who attended the ILIR rallies on Capitol Hill.

Meehan's statement says, "The Hibernians are at a crossroads where once we needed to speak up for the suffering Catholic community in the North of Ireland they now can speak for themselves without fear of assassination and censorship.

"Our fight for the many victims of injustice in the North continues, but priority attention must also be given to the needs of Catholic churches and schools, particularly with pro-life education and support and with the Wounded Warriors of Hibernian families affected by life altering injuries from service to our country in Iraq and Afghanistan."

As we said, not a mention of the issue of the undocumented Irish or the future flow of Irish to America. Meehan is actually acting against his own Hibernians charter which calls for immigration issues to be a priority. It will be no surprise if he loses his race for re-election.

Good Trip

for Cowen

"NEW York Trip Helps to Restore Taoiseach's Flagging Fortunes" was the headline in The Irish Times last Saturday after Taoiseach Brian Cowen returned to Ireland from his four day trip to the Big Apple.

Cowen himself told reporter Deaglan De Breadun that his trip to America gave him "a great sense of replenishment, a great sense that when we get back hone we have things to do."

In that respect the warm reception he received here was undoubtedly what Cowen needed after a slew of tough political crises at home. No wonder he had a spring in his step when he got back home.